Tab - delimited .csv file into R

Question

I have a .csv file tab delimited. While running the code

data <- read.table("xxx.csv",sep = "\t", dec=".", header = TRUE, 
                   encoding="UTF-8", stringsAsFactors = FALSE)

R reads it as a single column without dividing (should make 42 columns). Any ideas? Link to file.

Answer 1

The problem arises because each line is between quotation marks (the whole line).

There are two possible ways to read the file.

• Keep all quotation marks.

  Use the parameter quote = "" to disable quoting.

  read.table("xxx.csv", sep = "\t", dec = ".", header = TRUE,
             encoding = "UTF-8", stringsAsFactors = FALSE, quote = "") 
  

• Remove the quotation marks before reading the file.

  tmp <- gsub('^\"|\"$', '', readLines("xxx.csv"))
  read.table(text = tmp, sep = "\t", dec = ".", header = TRUE,
             encoding = "UTF-8", stringsAsFactors = FALSE)